“You must come with me,” was the response.
“Young man, you are under arrest,” and the red-faced man threw back his coat and disclosed a star.
“For disobeying an injunction of the court. Come with me.”
Ned’s dismay may be imagined. He was taken straight to the magistrate’s courtroom where the charge against him was heard. In the meantime, Captain Sprowl had engaged a lawyer for him, and the courtroom was thronged when Ned’s case was called. His lawyer cautioned Ned to let him do all the talking and the boy, feeling very nervous and ill at ease before the battery of eyes aimed in his direction, sat silent while the attorney explained to the court the circumstances of the case.
The magistrate heard him out and agreed with him that it seemed a hardship that the boy should be held for disobeying an injunction in order to save lives, but he declared that he had no powers in the matter, as the injunction had been issued by the higher court. It would be for that court to decide in the matter, and that therefore he had no choice but to hold Ned in bonds of $2,000 for contempt of court. Poor Ned turned pale when he heard this, but the lawyer hastily assured him that it meant nothing, and was merely a formality.
“I’ve got the money right here!” bellowed Captain Sprowl from the rear of the courtroom, flourishing a bundle of bills like a madman.
“Order in the court!” shouted the bailiffs frantically, for the captain’s actions had caused a storm of applause.
The next day Ned’s case came up before the court which had issued the injunction. Hank and Miles Sharkey, with greedy, triumphant faces, sat in front seats to witness the lad’s discomfiture. Ned, seeing their eyes fixed on him, held himself together bravely. In his eyes there was an almost excited light. However, he appeared to be awaiting some sort of a climax.
As for the other boys, they were openly shaking hands in the back of the courtroom and slapping each other on the back. Captain Sprowl bore a wide grin and Ned’s lawyer looked well pleased.
Hank and Miles noted these signs of satisfaction, and they began to grow uneasy. This uneasiness increased to positive alarm when Ned’s lawyer, instead of opening the proceeding in the usual way, asked to see a copy of the will, on the strength of which the injunction had been granted.